MONTGOMERY | Alabama put a halt to Auburn’s Capital City Classic domination, for now.

The Tide scored three runs in the eighth off three pitchers to break a tie and come away with a 6-3 win over the 12th-ranked Tigers Tuesday night in front of a record crowd of 7,896 at Riverwalk Stadium.

Auburn, which came into the non-conference game with four-straight wins and a 9-1 record against Alabama in Montgomery, falls to 20-5 on the season. The Tide improves to 20-6.

“We don’t have (Elliott) Anderson, we don’t have (Cody) Greenhill and I’ve got to start protecting those guys. I can’t get them every night,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Even against your rival we’ve got to make sure we’re strong for the weekend. Somebody is going to have to start filling that gap and helping us to the finish line.”

With the game tied 3-3, UA scored three runs on three hits and two walks in the eighth off three AU pitchers. Kyle Gray (1-2) took the loss giving up a double on his first pitch of the inning and threw a ball on the next pitch before turning it over to Will Morrison, who threw three-straight balls to complete the walk.

AU brought in Ryan Watson, who allowed a run to score on a wild pitch and two more on a double.

Richard Fitts had the best outing of his career holding the Tide to three hits in 3.2 shutout innings. The freshman right-hander struck out one and issued one walk on 65 pitches.

“Fitts really showed up tonight,” Thompson said. “He really mixed his pitches. He was part of giving up seven runs on Saturday and I thought he really bounced back. He did a marvelous job.”

Auburn starter Garrett Wade allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and five walks in 3.2 innings. He struck out four on 69 pitches.

The Tigers got on the board in the fourth as Conor Davis reach on an infield single and Edouard Julien scored from second base on a throwing error by UA shortstop Kolby Robinson. AU added another run in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Rankin Woley and tied the game 3-3 in the seventh on an infield single by Julien to score Will Holland from second.

Auburn allowed an unearned run in the second on a fielding error by right fielder Steven Williams but threw out three runners on the base paths including shortstop Will Holland gunning down Morgan McCullough at the plate trying to score from second on an infield single in the fifth.

Williams and Davis had two hits apiece for the Tigers.

Auburn returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at South Carolina. The game times are 6 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. Friday’s game is on SECN+ while the SEC Network will carry both games Saturday and Sunday.